Just to be clear, these were the kind of roaches you smoke… It was originally a Campmobile (non-pop-top), and I gutted it to use as a cheap pickup. It had very much a hippie vibe when I towed it home after purchasing for $100!

I am literally dying right now because this thread not only became unintentonally extremely funny, but looking back on my debauchery days, who in their right mind just discarded roaches? Did these people not use splifs (think equivalent to a cigarette filter) or not own a pipe (if the timeframe predates crack that ends up being more understandable)? So many questions because we never threw away roaches..

Dave

Posted April 24, 2017 at 3:24 PM

Just to be clear, smart money would suggest BOTH.

cjiguy

Posted April 24, 2017 at 3:51 PM

@ Rudiger:

Maybe that’s my Midwestern vernacular showing? Not positive but I would not be surprised. The old equivalent of LOL, if you will.

I guess I found it so hilarious because you will either get what roach means in this context, or flat out won’t. Clarifying that this particular species is smoked really doesn’t inform the unaware in the slightest.

Yes I’m a grown child.

Ed Stembridge

Posted April 24, 2017 at 4:44 PM

Well, I’ve never smoked (roaches or otherwise), and what I found in the crevices of the van were what I would refer to as “butts.” (c: Hope that further clarifies.

Lot’s of lowriders in the ’70’s had these organ pipes. And the most common model was the ’64 Impala. At least this is how they were equipped in SoCal in the early to mid 70’s, along with tiny Cragar reverse wheels/tires, fuzzy dash and parking lot hopping hydraulics.

I think I saw some of these in real life way back. They reminded me, in a cheap, cheesy way, of the fake pipe speakers available for Conn electronic organs, which themselves didn’t sound like the real thing.

Something like this (VERY VAGUELY like this) was an option on 1st generation Camaros for a year or two. IIRC a nozzle shot a chemical de-icer (probably produced by GM’s one time “partner”, Du pont) at the rear tires. It had a very low “take” rate, and I can’t say if it was offered on the Firebirds at the same time.

It was called “liquid tire chain”. 1969 Chevrolet RPO V75; available on all models that year except wagons. Supposedly discontinued at the beginning of 1970 because the take rate was non-existant. Believe it or not, the chemical was manufactured by the AC spark plug corporation. You mounted the canisters into the rear wheel well holders. The nozzles aimed at the very top of the wheel, not the ground. The system was activated by a dash mounted vacuum switch.

Those were in the catalogs up til at least the 80s, when buying a car was still a few years off for me but for some dumb reason my 13 year old self thought it would have been rad to mount one on whatever I got. Glad that idea faded LONG before I did buy my first wheels…

Imagine if you will a 1972 Mercury Marquis coupe/w skirts. White with a white vinyl top, Burgundy interior with 50/50 high back seats. Burgundy pin stripes with 77 T-Bird poly cast rims painted white with Burgundy pin stripes and wide white wall tires. To complete the look a JC Whitney angel hood ornament illuminated RED of course cruising the very hard streets of Detroit in the late 70s. Not my car but my best buds although I’m guilty of the pins stripes and sound system.

I always had a soft spot for Winky, though I never bought one. A few years ago Mythbusters did a show about the supposed deadliness of various items hurled off the rear window shelf in an accident (tissue box, bowling ball, axe); I wonder what damage a Winky to the back of the head would do.

I had one of their catalogs back in 1969. When it came to cars there was either your local auto parts dealer and JC Whitney. Just like for home items there was the Sears & Roebuck catalog. No internet, no Rock Auto, no Summit, no Jegs and no Amazon. There is both plus and minus in that.

Our town had lots of conventional auto parts stores, though usually strictly separated between generic/domestic only and “foreign” parts stores. But I preferred self-service and shopped at Grand Auto, which must have been a West Coast branch of Pep Boys, as their sign featured Manny, Moe, and Jack. In addition to real parts they carried a lot of JC Whitney-style chrome and schlock … as well as recycled motor oil. I think the Yosemite Sam mud flaps were the biggest sellers.

When I was growing up, my small town had 4 or 5 auto parts stores, but I rarely considered them as a source for parts. Usually, I got parts from Ambrosious (sp?), they had every used part I needed, including tires. I did pick up a JC Whitney catalog every now and then, and was even on their mailing list for a while. But just like now, I hated the idea of buying anything from a company that didn’t have a “brick and mortar” location within an hour or hour and a half drive. I wanted to be able to actually see what I was about to buy….I’m still that way.

Not “funny ha-ha”, just “funny odd”, were the catalogs of Shelby parts. I certainly don’t remember those but found them on the Internet just now. Didn’t really seem like JC Whitney material. But this item I found takes the cake. Something else to with your left foot when you weren’t using your die-cast barefoot dimmer. “Hands-Free” before Bluetooth voice activation.

That barefoot gas pedal is the PERFECT poster child for this thread. What a useless dumb piece of crap…and yet Ive always wanted to mount one in a car. Like a can of Spam, or that song ‘Informer’ from Snow…Its a guilty pleasure. I just need to find an old cheap car that’s good for laughs in order to put it to proper good use.

I had the gas pedal and dimmer set, which I got from Canadian Tire when I was 16. The gas pedal was rather a nuisance and even I couldn’t take myself seriously with it, so that went away but I kept the dimmer footy for years. The dimmer switch would stick down occasionally and you could pull it back by hooking your toe under the foot. It was actually useful!

Oh they had something even better than that (and what I’d be posting if i could find my old JC Whitney catalogs) – a fake 1987-style cellular phone handset you could hold up to your ears whilst driving so other motorists would get all envious and all because YOU could afford a mobile phone….

Boy have times changed. Now that would just get you pulled over (if seen by a cop) or have “hang up and drive!” yelled at you (if seen by anyone else).

One of the few JC Whitney-class of accessories that still seem to be in vogue after all these years are stick-on, fake fender vents and hood scoops.

I wonder if it’s due to the fact that some vehicles (Fords and Buicks) still come from the factory with these things. So, they get much more attention and some people thinking it’d be great to have them on ‘their’ vehicle, no matter how tasteless, out-of-place, or bad they might otherwise look.

Tom, I have a better challenge: How about an article where you post an ad of something you actually bought from JCW!!

Here’s one of mine. It actually worked well with my Sapphire IX AM radio. I dedicated one of my buttons to the FM frequency. I didn’t even have to cut any wires, I connected the power wire to a cigarette lighter adapter and screwed the brace to the ashtray.

Those FM converters are really a blast from the past. Speaking of which, I wonder which vehicle was the last one to come standard with an AM radio. My guess would be something from GM, specifically, I think those mid-eighties NUMMI Novas came with AM-only, but maybe pickup trucks were the last.

Especially necessary in 1970-80 GM cars. They were so chintzy that if you got a radio delete, they would also leave out the windshield antenna.
This left you with the choice of a mast-type one or getting new glass to go with your aftermarket radio.

Some makes actually offered a ‘radio prep package’ which supplied all the installed parts for a radio, minus the head unit. Don’t recall which but I’m thinking it was mostly some of the smaller, foreign companies.

My ’87 Caprice has an analog tuned, AM radio. I cannot find any mention of it in the sales literature, owner’s manual, or GM service manuals that I have for the car, the standard equipment is an AM radio, electronically tuned with clock. I bought the car off the original elderly owner and have found nothing in the paperwork indicating it was ever changed.

I guess I am the only one here who actually has a converter in my car. I had one in my ’67 Mustang years ago. I found one at a swap meet a few years ago and now have it in my ’66 Mustang. It works fairly well, but the AM radio isn’t all that good to start with. I have the converter hidden under the dash above the hang on factory air unit. I’m planning, however on getting a real AM/FM radio in the not too distant future.

I bought a used 1974 Ford Maverick that had one of these in it. When I lived in Cleveland, it worked great. But once you got out in the country, the reception wasn’t so great. But for the most part, it was great!

IIRC, Chrysler products had an optional record player in the mid 50s. One of the drawbacks to the Mopar record player was that it played a specially sized disc only available at Mopar dealers.
I seem to remember the Mopar record player looked a bit like a 2/3rds scale record player that mounted under the dash but stuck out far enough to have the record put on the turntable just like a “normal” record player.

The Ford conversion doesn’t look too bad (probably because Ford somewhat anticipated a factory version when it was styled) but, man, that ’57 Chevy is something else. Has anyone actually ever seen one in the metal?

I wonder if the conversion kit was inspired by Studebaker, many of whose vehicles looked like the styling was actually done by using a JC Whitney catalog.

It would’ve been more effective to “convert” the Chevy by keeping the stock single headlights, putting auxiliary high beams in the grille where the turn signals go and moving those to the Dagmar blanks.

Many years ago I read a review of J. C. Whitney–possibly in the Whole Earth Catalog, but I could be wrong. It said, “J. C. Whitney products have the reputation of being serviceable, but the magic spark plugs should be considered as strictly for laughs.”

It is an interesting and surprisingly comprehensive selection. I wonder if the donor cars’ bodies simply rusted out so quickly in those days that a steady supply of still-useful engines was left behind.

I’ve been thinking lately that a variant of that would sell well nowadays. Same sort of topper but the whole thing would be silver, maybe with black trim in strategic places to match the wheel, that made 15″ wheels look like 19″ wheels.

Going deep into the cobwebs of my memory here, but I seem to recall that the stick on wide whitewalls weren’t compatible with radial tires. I think that there was too much flex in the sidewalls for them to stay stuck on.

IIRC, there was a Gulf oil commercial (mid 60’s) where the bare foot gas pedal got a cameo appearance. Its a young couple in a car who only have less than a dollar to buy gas because the male has spent all his money buying accessories for his car. However, the gas attendant is still courteous and cleans the windshield and checks the oil while the couple have an awkward look on their face. In the commercial, one of the items the male had purchased was a gas pedal like the barefoot accelerator featured above. I guess the producer had a JC Whitney catalog at home.

I dropped a dime or two at JCW in my youth. Some items that come to mind are a convertible top for my ’66 Impala, which actually was of pretty good quality. I had the FM converter, which worked well, and dual air horns which I still have in a box somewhere. And I still have the “barefoot” gas and dimmer switch pedals, which will go into my ’54 F100 at some point.

And don’t forget the ever popular “cruise control” which was not much more than a modified clamp that held your accelerator pedal in one position.
I can’t imagine how many modifications were required to instal it, and even worse, how was it released during an emergency stop?

I bought a rings, bearings and gasket set for a Ford 289 engine. Rebuilt it in my spare bedroom. And it ran pretty well after the rebuild. I also bought a top for a Fiat 850 Spider. I installed it myself. It fit well and lasted until I got rid of the car. I bought the car for $100.00. It had a bad front wheel bearing. I had another Fiat 850, a coupe. It had a blown engine. A simple bearing swap and I had a good running 850 Spider. It did have the floor rusted out though. I cut the floor out and welded in a cross brace made from a child’s swing set. The roof of the 850 coupe was welded in as a new floor. I drove it for a few years. Then I was asked to bring it to the Fiat dealer for a rust inspection. They had a fit when they saw the rebuilt floor and cross brace. I was not even permitted to drive it home to get my belongings out of the car. The dealer cleaned the car out and delivered me and my belongings home. I was given a check for $400.00 and that was the end of my 850 Spider. I always had a soft spot for Fiats and other strange automobiles.